Tens of thousands protest against new French donor IVF bill

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest a bill that would create a generation of children without fathers through a radical change of law to enable donor assisted IVF.

French law currently only allows women in heterosexual relationships to access medically assisted procreation (MAP).

The French government now plans to extend MAP to single women and lesbian couples.

“Many of us have come from all over France to raise the alarm: the child, the father and the mother are in danger,” said the president of Manif pour tous, the main organisation behind anti-gay marriage protests in 2013, Ludovine de la Rochère.

Many families were among the protesters.

“We’re here for every child,” said a male protester pushing a pram. “They have the right to have one father and one mother. Many people today are protesting in order to protect society. The family is part of that society. The family is the foundation of it.”